Buckingham Palace released a new-to-us portrait/photo of King Charles. This was taken last November, before his cancer diagnosis. He wore his Field Marshal No.1 ceremonial dress uniform, complete with a chest full of medals. The photo was released for Britain’s Armed Services Day, which was Saturday, June 29. Now that he’s king, he’s the head of Britain’s Armed Forces and he was a naval officer back in the day. But he never saw combat, unlike his son Prince Harry.
While I get the idea behind “releasing a new photo of the king in his dress uniform for Armed Services Day,” I kind of wonder if the courtiers ever considered releasing a different kind of photo for the day. Instead of centering Charles with his chest full of medals – many of which are for things like ‘attending a Jubbly’ – they could have released a new, more personal photo of Charles with young soldiers on a military base. Something which would have actually centered the men and women who serve? Not to give the palace free ideas, but gosh.
Meanwhile, the king did not actually issue any statements to honor servicemen and servicewomen on Saturday. Instead, he let Camilla issue a statement on video. As I watched this, I realized it was the first time I’ve heard her speak for any length of time in many years. She’s not shy about public speaking, I just haven’t sought out videos of her speeches and I’m just realizing that now. She has a minor issue with sibilants, right? Anyway, it’s weird that Charles is like “here’s an old photo where I look like a generalissimo of a banana republic for Armed Forces Day, but you’re only going to hear from Camilla today!”
Meanwhile, at Glastonbury…
They were chanting “Fuck the king” at Glastonbury. pic.twitter.com/SugHBLB3H9
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) June 29, 2024
Portrait courtesy of Hugo Burnand/Royal Household. Additional photos courtesy of Cover Images.